TR EMERITUS

With the elections around the corner, the state media has launched a smear campaign against opposition-held wards to discredit the opposition. The Straits Times Forum published a letter today by a disgruntled Potong Pasir resident Tan Kam Weng ranting against the state of the estate under Singapore People Party's Chiam See Tong. For some inexplicable reasons, instead of submitting his feedback to the Town Council, Mr Tan felt fit to write in directly to the Straits Times Forum to embarrass Mr Chiam. In his letter, he insinuated that the standard of maintenance in the estate has deteriorated after Mr Chiam's stroke in 2008: "The standard of general maintenance in the constituency, after his mild stroke in 2008, has spiralled south. It is no longer the way it was - clean and well-maintained. There is neither daily sweeping nor monthly washing of corridors. Fumigation is also no longer a regular feature in the constituency." Mr Chiam has been the MP for Potong Pasir for twenty five years. Being an opposition ward, Potong Pasir has been deprived of crucial upgrading funds from the PAP government which doles them out based on political allegiance. Mr Tan also complained about the state of the playgrounds in Potong Pasir: "Defects such as missing or worn off screws are common in playgrounds. In one of them we found an aluminium bench seat missing and in another, the floor mat ripped off. These have not been rectified for months. One of our grandchildren was nearly injured by a monkey bar recently when he tried to slide down. We wonder whether Mr Chiam knows about all these and whether the town council engages qualified contractors to maintain the playgrounds." Potong Pasir is likely to become a hot battleground in the next election. Mr Chiam has expressed his desire to contest in a GRC and his wife Ms Lina Chiam will probably take his place in Potong Pasir. Such constant negative publicity about Potong Pasir on the eve of the election is likely to boost the chances of the PAP there.     Please join our Facebook page here and invite your friends to do so to create awareness of the current affairs affecting Singaporeans. Please use our online web form to contact us.  Read More →

Over the last few years there has been an increasing sense of frustration openly expressed by Singaporeans on the internet about their inability to end PAP rule. The primary reasons for the weak position of Singaporeans are the disunity amongst them and the lack of knowledge. Until these are resolved, there is no way any major change can be expected.  TYPICAL REASONS GIVEN Two main reasons often put forth have been the disunity of opposition parties. The disunity amongst opposition parties are always cited as the main reason. This is an idiosyncratic expectation since political parties in other countries are not united either. In fact they form unity coalitions based on certain strategies only. That unity coalition is just an electoral  platform / mechanism. However in Singapore there is a wierd expectation that opposition parties have to function in the same manner. Some argue that there is no unity coalition platform in Singapore either. The truth is even if there is one, they will not be able to win the majority of the votes.  The other reason that is often given is the passiveness of Singaporeans who are indifferent to PAP when coming to the voting booth even though they are full of criticisms before reaching the voting booth. Some say this is due to fear and so on. Again the truth is, even if Singaporeans have the courage, they will still be voting the same manner.  DISUNITY AMONGST SINGAPOREANS  The core reason for the weakness of Singaporeans is their disunity. Any two Singaporeans of any contrasting background rarely unite in the area where they are different. Rich Singaporeans do have friends or relatives amongst poor Singaporeans. How often do you see the rich Singaporeans endevouring to uplift the economic status of their poor friends or relatives. The disunity amongst ethnic groups is so pronounced and disguised under the pretext of cliches. The Chinese Singaporeans still stick to the game of blaming the minorities for their underperformance instead of admiting to the serious flaws in the system that marginalises the minorities. The Chinese Singaporeans have plenty of expectations for the minorities but none are about uplifting the economic status. The same form of disunities can be found amongst religous groups, groups of different literacies and so on.  In such a divided population, the PAP can indeed rule for another 50 years. To create unity amongst Singaporeans, they themselves have to be the drivers. Firstly they will have to bury the mistrust they carry for the last 50 years. They also have to stop the blame game. Most importantly they must dream for their fellow Singaporeans what they want for themselves.  UNINFORMED POPULATION  The majority of Singaporeans remain uninformed about the realities of PAP and Singapore. It is this lack of knowledge that gives them blind hope when they vote for PAP. In fact there are so many Singaporeans who have unwavering conviction that PAP will turn any desirable economic situation around and that nobody can create a better Singapore than PAP.  Indeed the Chinese population in Singapore never enjoyed a higher economic status in previous rules from 1819 till 1959. It was only in PAP rule that they enjoyed the highest level of economic outcomes. This is what the Chinese supporters of PAP tend to think will be eternal. Nothing in this world is eternal, especially whatever relating to mortal humans. The PAP model is in serious decline. The Chinese population have slumped in their overall economic outcomes from earlier decades due to skewness in income growth whereby the rich is getting richer and the poor is getting poorer. This however is little understood. What is much further less understood is the fact that unless they vote out PAP, there is no reason to expect their overall economic circumstances to improve.  Even amongst the minority voters, a large majority of them do not realise that their economic status has never been any worse in the last 190 years except in the PAP era. Private home ownership rate of the Malays was extremely high in Singapore till 1959, which has slumped since then. The Indian and Arab community had significant control over the economy till 1959. Minorities fail to realise that the PAP simply excluded the minorities to the margins in their economic equation. What is interesting is that some of the biggest supporters and organisers of PAP grassroots are the Malays. For every minority henchmen and token representative PAP uses to tie down the minorities,there are a hundred waiting ernestly in the queue to replace him / her. They are driven by both greed and ignorance.   Andrew Thiam  Read More →

Under unrelenting pressure from the public to explain the lapse of two days before a police report was made about the vandalized train parked at the Changi depot, SMRT finally issued an official statement today. The company claimed that its staff did not sound the alarm when they saw the graffiti on the train on 17 May as it was done "artistically" and they mistook it for an "advertisement." The incredulous explanation is unlikely to appease critics who continue to lambast the public-listed corporation for its ineptitude in dealing with the situation. On May 17, a Swiss and British national slipped into the depot undetected and spent some 20 minutes there spraying graffiti on the carriage of a train. It was noticed by a commuter who took a video of it and uploaded to Youtube, but SMRT only lodged a police report two days later. The Swiss has been arrested by the police while his accomplice has escaped to Hong Kong. The unfortunate incident which is the largest security lapse since the escape of famed terrorist two years ago, shocked the entire nation leaving Singaporeans wondering what would have happened if the two vandals are terrorists instead. As expected, the Home Affairs Ministry was quick to distance itself from the saga while LTA quickly "tai-chi" the blame back to SMRT. In a brief statement to the media, LTA said that while it owns Changi depot, the running and management of it was left to SMRT which in turn said it had "reprimanded" the unknown security agency it employed for the breach. There are no comments or apologies from the CEO or Chairman of SMRT as if the entire fracas has nothing to do with them. Singapore has an unique "let's move on" culture in which top leaders and officials are seldom taken to task for mistakes made. No heads will "roll" for the security lapse by SMRT and business will continue as usual. As for Singaporeans, they better pray hard that their luck will never run out.   Please join our Facebook page here and invite your friends to do so to create awareness of the current affairs affecting Singaporeans. Please use our online web form to contact us.  Read More →